Vermont’s top federal prosecutor appeared in front of a U.S. Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Capitol Hill Wednesday to advocate for tougher penalties for people who deal fentanyl.
U.S. Attorney Christina Nolan told lawmakers that the state recorded a record 107 opiate-related overdoses in 2017, and two-thirds of the deaths were linked to fentanyl.
“We desperately want all 107 of those people back and, unfortunately, my colleagues across the country are experiencing similar tragedies,” Nolan said.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is debating a bill that would lower the threshold for mandatory minimum sentences for people who sell fentanyl. Current law triggers mandatory minimum sentences for sales involving 40 grams of the drug. But the synthetic opiate, which can be 30-50 times more powerful than heroin, can kill in amounts of only a few milligrams. Forty grams of fentanyl, Nolan said, can kill thousands of people.
“Our cases often do not reach that threshold,” Nolan said. “It only takes one small dose of fentanyl to end a life, and the sentencing scheme should reflect that reality. The current quantity thresholds … are out of date and inadequate given what we now know.”
Under the Republican-backed bill, people caught selling as little as two grams of pure fentanyl would face a mandatory five-year minimum sentence. The bill is part of a wave of tough-on-crime measures pushed by President Donald Trump, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Republican lawmakers.
Nolan referenced a recent bust in Vermont in which, she said, authorities found 3,200 pills laced with fentanyl.
“Those pills could have killed thousands of Vermonters,” Nolan said.
Nolan also discussed the need for addiction treatment and a “holistic” approach to drug abuse, saying authorities can’t “charge our way out of the problem.” In December, Nolan came out against a plan for supervised safe-injection sites for heroin users, saying the facilities “are counterproductive and dangerous.”
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) noted that the bill has echoes of failed War on Drugs policies. Durbin said similar mandatory minimum legislation, passed in the 1980s to combat crack-cocaine use, caused the prison population to explode but did little to reduce the availability of drugs or combat addiction.
“Now we’re being asked to dramatically increase the criminal penalties for fentanyl. What lesson have we learned that makes us go down this path again?” Durbin asked Nolan.
“We’ve never seen anything like fentanyl before,” Nolan responded. “This is a new level of deadliness.”
Booker noted that mandatory minimums and other tough-on-crime policies, have, in the past, disproportionately targeted minorities and failed to curb drug use.
“I am worried [about] jacking up sentences for fentanyl and having the presumption it’s going to drive down crime,” Booker said.
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Gee… how much more iinformation about the problem of fentanyl do we need? What a waste of time.
Two of my sons, Dennis and Sean Thibault, died from an overdose of PURE FENTANYL on June 18 of 2015. The person that sold that Fentanyl, Robert “Bobby” Robidoux, has finally been brought before our Vermont court to answer for his part in their deaths. He was arraigned on March 30th, 2018 on 3 counts.
1 count of “SELLING OR DISPENSING A REGULATED DRUG W/DEATH RESULTING”
2 counts of “DEPRESSANT/STIMULANT/NARCOTIC-SALE <100X DOSE"
My sons died . The other victims named in this charge nearly died. The same Fentanyl that Robert “Bobby” Robidoux distributed on June 17th 2015, that killed my sons nearly killed others………the day BEFORE and THE DAY AFTER my sons died. I want to help Christina send a message. If you peddle this poison, you may end up like Bobby. He will be tied up in the State case for a very long time. His Federal sentence is now in jeopardy since the new information that was discovered in the State’s case may negate any agreement they made with him to forgive him of any “basis that death or serious bodily injury resulted from the defendant’s distribution of heroin”.
I want to thank the BPD and the State’s Attorney for continuing to pursue this case. I also want to send a message to anyone who has lost someone to this scourge. I am so sorry for my ignorance, I never would have believed that my own loving sons could be opiate addicted. I have learned so much since their deaths about this crisis, and I hope that this post educates at least one person…..it can happen to you or someone you hold dear. Please, read up on this and educate yourselves. You may save a loved one’s life. I can only hope for that.
Penny Thibault